Simple, Effective, Expandable Battery Backup

C

CuzzA

Active member
I posted this in the national forum, but I dont believe I shared it here, (getting old, don't remember, haha) so, I figured I would in case any of you TBRCers didn't see it. I can assure you it's a solid setup that doesn't require you to do anything once installed properly.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2440002

BATTERYBACKUP_zpsa8e919f7.jpg
 
Nice. Looks very simple. I just have two computer APC UPS batteries from eBay and plugged them in series. I tested the system with a simulated outage and it lasted 2 1/2 hours with everything on.

I would like to set something up later that could last at least twice that much. I may give your design a try.
 
Webmanny said:
Nice. Looks very simple. I just have two computer APC UPS batteries from eBay and plugged them in series. I tested the system with a simulated outage and it lasted 2 1/2 hours with everything on.

I would like to set something up later that could last at least twice that much. I may give your design a try.
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I've read that anywhere from 4-10 hours without life support your livestock will start dying depending on the tank conditions. With this system, depending on what your powering, it could last around 24 hours on one battery.
 
I like it. If your keeping the battery out side you could use one of those cheap solar chargers to keep it topped off. I use one on my RV and it keeps 2 D size batteries full and I think it was 35$ Just so you know D size battery is the same deep cycle that come in semis. These would run your system much longer then any marine battery. On the other hand for anyone really into this hobby there is only one way to go. And I am sorry to the people who live in apts. Remember we live in FL. Not sure if it was 7or 8 years ago but I was without power for 9 days. Never again
 
sirrealism said:
I like it. If your keeping the battery out side you could use one of those cheap solar chargers to keep it topped off. I use one on my RV and it keeps 2 D size batteries full and I think it was 35$ Just so you know D size battery is the same deep cycle that come in semis. These would run your system much longer then any marine battery. On the other hand for anyone really into this hobby there is only one way to go. And I am sorry to the people who live in apts. Remember we live in FL. Not sure if it was 7or 8 years ago but I was without power for 9 days. Never again
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Yes, useable time will be dictated by how many amp hours the battery is rated. Of course batteries can get quite expensive. You could also use an AGM/GEL batteries indoors.

I'm my original thread I stated the same thing about having a generator. But the problem with a portable generator is it's not on demand. My fear was always if I left my home for the day or went on vacation where there would be prolonged absence of myself or a tank sitter and the power went out right after I left, it could be many hours without life support. The key to my design is the transfer switch. It automatically switches to battery power in the event of a loss of commercial power. A luxury you don't have with your back up power source sitting in the garage.
 
I think you need both, in Brant's case, power out for multiple days and in the case where you wont be home for a few hours. I myself have a generator like shown above but have no auto battery back up. It's also worth knowing, in case most of you are trying to run whole systems, your tank can survive without light for days and you really only need flow to be backed up.

I am poor and do not have the investment a lot of us have in a tank so it's less of a priority for me right now but if I had any money tied up in a nice tank I wouldn't think twice about running something similar.
 
Luckily, at my shop we have tons of AGM batteries laying around. (All somewhere around 95AH). As luck would have it, our company also throws away all the old UPS power supplies that have bad batteries, and just buys new ones.

Take a guess at what I have backing up my DT.. :)
 
LiquidCache. So any of those back up for sale?
Cuzza I am with you in having both. I do have an APC on 1 of my tanks. On the other hand I in the process of having a whole house generator that runs on propane which will auto turn on after 15 min of no power. I found an old twin cylinder Onan generator out of a really big RV. when its running it will power whole house but you will have to turn a switch to turn on the 220v Because its big and makes a lot of power but I am not sure it will run 2. 3.5 ton AC units. Once again this is just something I want to do not just for my tanks but for my home. I dont know about anyone else but i cant sleep when its 90 inside my house.
Dont get me wrong Cuzza This is a really good idea and not to costly. Also with 5 reef tanks I have decided not to go on vaca again for a very long time. Last time was disaster and took me well over a month to get my tanks right again and with the amount of corals I lost it just not worth it. Also I work 2 miles from home so that helps 2.
 
I'll be getting a quote shortly for whole house standby generator - probably around 20kw - running off of natural gas.
 
Whole house generator would be great for more reasons than just the tank. The day the Bay gets smacked by a serious hurricane we're all in for a dose of some mid evil reality. Even better would be getting off the grid entirely with solar power, but it's still not cost effective. :/
 
Ted C not sure but I was looking into this 6 months ago and the prices are down a lot over just a couple years ago. I am not looking to go off grid but if I could spend 2500-3000 and cut my elec bill in half I have very much consider it. But that was a very cheap controller and I think I want a much better controller which would be another 1500$ but then its expandable so I can add more panels latter. This is a system without batteries. I know you get what you pay for but lets say I pay 4k for the system and it saves me 200$ per month. If it lasts more then 2 years I am in good shape. I prob wont do it but I sure would like to
 
I think I was looking at a solar system that would be upwards of 20kW/200 A - installed by a company rather than self. I can't remember where I saw the estimated $30,000 price tag - but it was only a few months ago.

I was also unaware that the system deteriorates over time and replacements / maintenance contracts were required. I heard this over on Facebook.

There's a big thread on Facebook (an advertisement) regarding Solar Electricity in FL - there's a lot of negative comments.

Edit: I think it may have been this comment from here: http://blog.ucsusa.org/cost-of-installing-solar-panels-635 from a month ago
Lexington, KY. I recently got a quote. $28K w $10K tax breaks. But, only covers 1/2 my energy needs (11K KWH of 18K KWH), and takes 14 years to pay for itself in energy savings. Plus very unresponsive sales -- no answers to questions I asked. I guess I need to keep shopping around.
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Last edited:
Sonicboom said:
This is now available in Florida,
http://www.dowpowerhouse.com/
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This is definitely the future. And the 20 year warranty on the panels is key, but when I calculated the break even point it was 35 years. So, other than maybe increasing the homes value (which could eliminate a lot of potential buyers), at this point they're still way over priced. If they could get the break even down to 10 years then I would consider it.
 
I replicated this exact setup and same equipment have an issue with the battery slowly draining until the inverter alarm goes off and i have to turn it off for a few days to recharge the battery. Any idea what could be causing this problem??

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk
 
Keep in mind with solar panels, there's no guarantee they'll still be attached to your roof when the storm is over :/
 
CuzzA said:
What charger are you using? If your using the JR model I had the same issue. The .75 amps isn't enough to maintain a charge and keep the inverter powered in standby. I stepped it up to the larger Battery Tender Plus model which is a 1.25 amp charger.

http://www.2xpower.com/12V-Battery-Tender-Plus-by-Deltran_p_143.html

If you're interested I would sell you mine as I'm currently tankless for a while. $40.
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Ah ok thanks thats it. Ill see how much they cost locally and let you know.

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